Norbeck Pass, Badlands National Park
Cedar Pass, Badlands National Park
Mushroom Rock, Badlands National Park
I have always been fascinated with night photography. The view of Milky Way over the landscape is surreal and mesmerizing. With light painting the photographer has complete control of which features in the landscape to highlight and which ones to hide.
Before my trip to Badlands National Park I picked up two of the most recommended flashlights for photography, Led Lenser X21R and a TM11 Tiny Monster with a NFD60 diffuser. Led Lenser has an advanced focusing system and a very long range that helps to illuminate a vast landscape.
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| Norbeck Pass Under Milky Way, Badlands National Park |
The above image was captured using the Led Lenser X21R. The painting job is pretty simple to do because of the wide area of coverage from the light. The only trick is to figure out the correct exposure so as not to over expose the scene and paint the scene in one clean fluid motion. It took me about 4 takes and about 10 minutes to get the painting right.
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| Cedar Pass Under Milky Way, Badlands NP |
The above image was captured on the same night. It was my very first light painting work, as you can see the painting work is not perfect. If I had to do it again, I would have used a diffuser so as to eliminate the hot spots and the dark shadows.
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| Mushroom Rock, Badlands NP |
The Flashlights X21R, TM11 and a soda can for size comparision.
The TM11 as you can see is tiny compared to the X21R and packs easily into my backpack. The X21R on the other hand is huge but is totally awesome. If I had to choose one flash light it would be the X21R, the TM11 works very well when you don't need the reach.